Jam Jars [GirlxGirl]

Chapter 8

Vera awoke a few moments before her alarm sounded. Sleep is still under my control. She assured herself in relief. Troubled sleep was never pleasant, but controlled sleep was always preferable.

There were no screams of panic from Emma's room on this day so Vera's waking before her alarm was genuine. For the first time in a while Vera had managed to rise before her alarm, and her morning ritual was therefore back on track. It was a good feeling to wake up to. 

Vera turned her alarm off and sat up, taking the jam jar out of her bed side table. She opened and closed it a few times, her spine tingling at the feeling, before placing it back in the draw. She dressed in her usual black ensemble, putting her night clothes in the washing machine, and made her way downstairs. Brown Eyes was the first up and poured herself a glass of water, sitting down on the table by the bay window, taking occasional sips. She heard Tsuru wake and mutter 'thank God there's no worm' before he entered the sitting room. She didn't look at him, focussing her gaze on the frosted grass outside.

"You'll need these." He said softly, putting a pair of black leather gloves on the table. Vera looked down at them and then up at him. "So you don't leave fingerprints behind." Tsuru clarified. Vera held his gaze, letting her contempt for him be known, before she placed her glass down and reached for the gloves, trying them on. They were tight and stretched over her fingers snugly. She clenched her hand and the leather made a squishing noise. It will do.

"Thank you." She said politely, then, "I think Emma should come into the Library with me." Tsuru arched an eyebrow,

"I thought you wanted a distraction?"

"I do." She answered. Tsuru looked at her in silence for a few seconds,

"Oh no, no, no, no. Tsuru Takano is not a distraction. I'll be better at sneaking in and investigating than she is."

"And infinitely better at drawing attention to yourself." Vera added, removing the gloves and taking a sip of water. "I thought the aim was to keep Emma out of sight and unnoticed. She can't do that and be a distraction." She pointed out. Tsuru paused, thinking, looking out of the bay window silently. Vera decided to push some more, "As we've seen, the people we're looking into can be multilingual as well, it may be that some of the evidence is in another language. Emma would be useful if that were the case."

"Why don't me and Emma go in and you make a distraction instead." Tsuru offered.

"I might have considered that if that sentence had been grammatically correct." Vera replied grumpily, finishing her water in one, long gulp. She let out a breath. "Also... the police already know me." She said quietly.

"Pardon?" Tsuru blinked in surprise.

"The police will recognise my face." Vera reiterated, baring her teeth. Tsuru cocked his head curiously.

"Why?"

"As I said last night, I've been through tough situations before." Vera didn't want to tell him the whole truth just yet. "And, anyway, I thought you told me 'you'd handle it'." Tsuru drooped,

"You have an answer for everything." He muttered, "Alright, Vera, I'll distract them." Emma walked into the sitting room.

"Are we leaving yet? The sun's up." She asked, turning her sluggish eyes on them. Vera and Tsuru looked her up and down. She was dressed in a light green form fitting dress, her hair pulled back in a bun.

"You need to change." Tsuru said, "You're sneaking into the Library with Vera and green isn't a subtle colour. You want something more like this," Tsuru gestured at his own outfit, a plain white shirt and black jeans. "I'll go get my other set of gloves." He announced, marching past Emma. The girl looked at Vera as Tsuru left the room, her eyes went from tired to excited,